Warthur
For the final album of the classic viking metal trilogy that began with Blood Fire Death, Bathory occupy a space closer to the epic narrative thrash metal of Blood On Ice than the preceding Hammerheart, which still retained certain elements of their former black metal style. Less immediately gripping than the preceding albums, the album has a melancholic and contemplative atmosphere, with slow thrash riffs and long acoustic interludes emphasising this. It's said this was intended as the band's swansong, and I can believe it: it masterfully captures an air of wistful nostalgia for past times which can never be reclaimed. Not quite a classic by my reckoning, since I really have to be in a receptive mood to fully appreciate it, but still a grand finale to the journey begun in Blood Fire Death.